


baby lets slow down

by kogaritsu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Couch Cuddles, Lost Love, M/M, theyre just soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27043339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kogaritsu/pseuds/kogaritsu
Summary: “Are you cold?” Keito was already consulting every bit of knowledge he had on teamaking, praying that someone had some bags in the kitchen.“I’m alright,” Rei moved again, hooking his chin over Keito’s shoulder to not-so-subtly sap more heat from him. Pulling away from him was excruciating.
Relationships: Hasumi Keito/Sakuma Rei
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	baby lets slow down

**Author's Note:**

> been feeling very... empty. so heres some reikei :]

“Moron.” Keito nudged Rei’s shoulder, sighing when he didn’t stir in the slightest, “Wake up and go to bed.” 

“Mmmm, not sleeping.” Rei caught his wrist like lightning, tugging and squeezing until Keito shuffled closer.

With one knee sunken into the couch cushion and one arm entrapped in Rei’s hand, Keito decided to at least look around to see what he’d dozed off doing. It wasn’t much of a shock to see partially completed paperwork on the coffee table, uncapped pen laying on the top page at the end of a distracted scribble. Clearly, that page needed redone, it couldn’t possibly be passed along looking like the work of a wayward toddler. One corner of his mouth twitched when he considered how they _all_ probably looked that way, with how disgusting Rei’s handwriting was when he grew too tired to worry about it. What a headache.

“I’m not doing your work for you.” Keito said as he sat down in front of him, tugging the stack of paper closer with his free hand and, with Rei’s hand still curled around his captive wrist, adjusting his glasses to skim over them.

“Of course not.” Rei’s hand dropped to rest on his knee instead, body pivoting so he could sit up, cheek squished against Keito’s bony shoulder.

“God, have you no shame?” Keito took advantage of his newfound freedom to spin Rei’s discarded pen between his fingers, “You didn’t read a word of this, did you?”

“I read the first part.” It was a weak defense, barely one at all, but Keito kind of liked his relaxed tone, relishing in lowered boundaries. Not that he’d ever admit that in any capacity. But it was nice.

“Some of this is specific to you.” He forged Rei’s initials on the bottom line of the first page, tilting his head to scrutinize it.

“Whatever, you know me well enough.” Rei changed tactics, shifting to burrow into Keito’s shoulder with a contented hum, “Just ask if you don’t.”

“Stop.” Keito waved his hand, hitting Rei’s face in the process of shooing him away.

Rei ignored his complaints, dodging Keito’s hand to bury his nose further into the collar of his shirt, sighing in the most annoying way possible. His hands, cold as ice through the thin fabric of his shirt, wormed their way underneath. When his fingers splayed out across Keito’s belly, he got a very rude shoulder hitting him in the nose. Standing his ground had Rei latching his teeth on Keito’s shoulder, nails digging lightly into his skin to punish him.

“Stop that.” Keito warned once again, trying his hardest to shrink away from Rei’s touch, “I’m busy right now.”

“But Keeeeito…” Rei whined, dragging his name out the way he always did when he wanted something, voice still muffled by his mouthful of cotton blend.

“This isn’t a negotiation. Leave me alone or do your own work.” He wasn’t mad, just annoyed and embarrassed; his only solace was the knowledge that no one would see them in such a compromised position, “And spit my shirt out, you’re being disgusting.”

Rei did not, in fact, leave him alone, but he did settle on spitting out Keito’s shirt and nestled his face in the crook of his neck instead. It was warmer there, and smelled like a mix of shampoo and fabric softener. Keito, obviously, was irritated by that development too, but decided that since his right hand was still free, Rei could have easily been way more annoying. So he let him stay there.

The paperwork was, much to Keito’s surprise, a written request for personal time off. He narrowed his eyes, flipping through to look for a reason, as he couldn’t think of a good reason Rei would want time off. Expectedly, all of the necessary blanks were left empty, ink dotted as if someone had started to write and then changed their mind. Family matters could have required time away, maybe, but after all the arguments he’d been in, Keito couldn’t see much of a reason to care, aside from the obvious. He asked himself if prying would overstep. 

“You can write songs but not a vacation request?” Rei’s pen spun between his fingers again, gears turning between his ears as he thought about how he’d circumvent the personal details.

Rei didn’t answer him, but his hands did withdraw from under Keito’s shirt, leaving the skin feeling oddly cold in his wake. The question went unanswered, to no one’s surprise, and Keito just hoped he didn’t push too much. Family was a sensitive topic, after all, and Rei was very hard to console when he was genuinely upset. It was without thought or hesitation that Keito reached up to card his fingers through Rei’s hair, hoping it offered any kind of support or comfort. The way Rei pushed into his hand like a petulant cat made his heart squeeze so tight it hurt; it appeared some things never changed.

It’d be really hard to fill out paperwork with Rei hanging over him, though. If the reason for the request weighed so heavily he couldn’t even bait out a monologue, then it was more than worth it for Keito to do that part for him. 

“Are you cold?” Keito was already consulting every bit of knowledge he had on teamaking, praying that someone had some bags in the kitchen.

“I’m alright,” Rei moved again, hooking his chin over Keito’s shoulder to not-so-subtly sap more heat from him. Pulling away from him was excruciating.

\---

“Here,” Keito pushed a chipped mug into Rei’s hands, “Warm up so I can at least get some of this done without you breathing down my neck.”

Rei smiled like a cat that’d caught a canary, blowing daintily on his tea and leaning back into Keito’s side as soon as he sat down again. Keito started thumbing through the papers again as if nothing was off, squinting in the low light to make out certain words. They sat like that for a while with only the thrum of the heater as background noise. Eventually Keito got frustrated enough to turn on the lamp, and eventually Rei’s tea cooled enough for safe consumption. Without thinking about it, Keito watched him take his first sip, eyes following the movement of his throat as he swallowed.

“It’s good. You’ve outdone yourself, truly.” Rei sipped once more, humming happily and making a very distasteful comment regarding Keito’s existence as a ‘sweet little homemaker.’

“It is?” Keito snatched it back, taking a daring drink from the same edge as Rei and ignoring the muffled giggles under his arm to consider the flavor. Whatever else Rei had said didn’t matter, though it took a few stabilizing breaths to banish the childish comeback that came to mind. 

To keep his mouth occupied, he took another sip of Rei’s tea, deciding that it was pretty good and taking the slightest bit of pride in himself. So what if all he did was soak a tea bag and splash milk into the mug? That was his secret to keep. If Rei thought he was some expert in making tea, well there was no harm in that. 

“You know what they call that in Europe?” Rei asked, indicating to his mug in Keito’s hand, “An indirect kiss.”

“They do not.” Keito passed the mug back, ears hot and mouth dry in spite of the tea he’d just had.

“Yes, they do. Don’t challenge my European trivia, I’ll win.” Rei took another sip of his tea, ‘mmmmm’ing afterward, “Keito-kun backwash…. My favorite.”

“Do you have any other personality trait aside from being gross?” Keito scrunched up his nose, turning his attention back to the paperwork they were supposed to be working on.

After a drawn out ‘hmmmmm,’ Rei shook his head, “No, I don’t think so.” He laughed at the end, burying it in the rim of his mug, “Is that okay?”

His laugh lilted at the end, high and soft as it transitioned into a happy little sigh, a clear sign that it was 100% genuine. Keito’s pen veered distractedly to the edge of the page, ruining the end of ‘Religious matters disclosed to those whom they concern’ and making Keito want to shriek with frustration. That frustration melted into a whole new kind when he turned to silence Rei, only to be met by the softest eyes he’d seen in months. They burned a hole through Keito, mollifying any Sakuma-related rage.

“You don’t need to do my work for me,” Rei took another long drink of his tea, knuckles white around his mug, “I’ll finish up once I take a nap. Keito-kun is up waaay past his bedtime, he should get his beauty sleep.”

Even as he sent Keito away, made it clear that he wanted to be left alone to stew on his reason for taking time off, he looked at him with the eyes of a tired lover. More than he wanted to make this paperwork picture perfect so Rei would have nothing to worry about, Keito wanted to knock those eyes shut. He wanted to lay him to rest so sweetly and gently he had no choice but to comply. As if taunting him, Rei offered up the last few dregs of his tea, head tilted just far enough that his hair spilled over his shoulder. He was the picture of suggestion, eyes glowing embers in the lamplight and mouth twisted into a smile so innocent, Keito couldn’t control himself.

After abandoning his pen and extricating the now lukewarm tea from Rei’s loose grip, Keito went in for the kill. Rei’s back hit the couch with a feeble bounce, hair splaying under him like sharp wings burnt into the gaudy fabric. He was flawless even when taken by surprise, dragging his fingers up Keito’s side to interlock their fingers. Clinging to the little bit of control he’d gained, Keito shoved his hand down to pin it. Rei looked up at him with the same starry gaze, blinking slowly as if he couldn’t bear to miss a second.

“You’re in so much trouble.” Keito managed, admiring the way his and Rei’s fingers interlocked on the couch cushion, “Looking at me like that… I can’t believe you.”

A sinister smile split Rei’s soft one in half before he turned his head and pulled Keito’s hand to his mouth, feathering kisses up the curve of his wrist. His lips were smug where they met his skin, soft and precise as if they remembered exactly where to put them to drive Keito absolutely insane. Frankly, it was a little unfair for him to be so proficient in kissing that Keito’s arm was becoming an erogenous area. He was gonna get what was coming to him, that was for sure. Keito would give it to him just the way they both liked it.

He figured there was no fun in rushing to the finish line, and Rei was enough of a tease to deserve a terrible punishment. So Keito pinned his other hand, too, and summoned all of the muscle he’d accumulated in his entire life to carefully stoop down and suck harsh love bites against the fragile skin of Rei’s throat. The noises he elicited, soft and encouraging and oh so inviting, were just as rewarding as the way Rei squirmed under him. But teasing Rei was the same as denying himself, so he didn’t feel so inclined to drag out his loving torment. He was too excited for more.

It’d been… a while since Keito had even thought about partaking in such intimate activities with him, and even longer since he’d gotten to actually do it. Two years wasn’t too terribly long, not really, but it felt like an eternity the second he got another taste. Rei tasted like something he wasn’t meant to have, mouthfuls of sweet venom that rotted away his inhibitions and boundaries. And, fuck, if Keito could only have it this one last time, then he wanted to take advantage of time he was given. 

Kissing Rei was like a drug, addicting and unyielding. Every time they separated to gasp like fish out of water, Keito couldn’t help but kiss his open mouth again, pressing him down like he would try to escape. Rei, to his credit, held on even tighter, losing his rhythm and kissing back like he was an amatuer. It was so cute Keito could almost pretend that they hadn’t practiced this exact thing very diligently in their early years of high school. Things were different now, though, especially when Rei refused to put up an act for him.

“I’ve missed you…” His hands were gentle this year, stroking through Keito’s hair the same way they used to pull. 

“Do you say that to everyone you’ve slept with over the years?” It wasn’t malicious really, just a jab at Rei’s somewhat notorious habit of kissing the hand that fed him.

Sharp teeth sank into the skin under his jaw, not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to make a point. “No one has ever been you.” Rei licked his words into the skin he’d bitten, leaving behind a hideous bruise. “And they never will be.”

For some reason, hearing what neither of them had wanted to say made Keito’s head spin so terribly he had to lay it down. Rei was an excellent pillow, soft where he needed to be and firm everywhere else; his fingers petted through Keito’s hair again as if coaxing him to sleep. It was working so well, until he opened his mouth. 

“I still lo-” Keito stopped him, squirming up to press chaste kisses to his lips every time he tried to say it. Their hands squeezed and hips bumped in a loving battle for dominance, and Rei was nowhere near dedicated enough to win. Mouths got tired, though, and Keito was already running on fumes from the beginning, so he folded. But when he did, Rei didn’t try to speak again, just nosed closer to kiss him one last time, slow and gentle and everything their relationship had never been. It was a heart wrenching confession that didn’t need any words.

“I know.” Keito finally whispered into the space between them, “Me too.”


End file.
